Infrastructure hears update on Digital 395 progress

The long, winding process for the Digital 395 project to reach Ridgecrest was given an update at Wednesday night's Infrastructure Committee meeting.City Engineer Loren Culp provided an update on the large-scale project by nonprofit California Broadband Cooperative to improve broadband

The long, winding process for the Digital 395 project to reach Ridgecrest was given an update at Wednesday night's Infrastructure Committee meeting.

City Engineer Loren Culp provided an update on the large-scale project by nonprofit California Broadband Cooperative to improve broadband communications through rural communities along Highway 395.

"The right-of-way agreement has been signed and the CBC has posted their security checks," Culp said. The plans were currently being checked over by Willdan Engineering, the city's engineering consultant group that had provided Ridgecrest with a pavement management system study.

"The portion that has been submitted are the backbone facilities," Culp said. "Those are running from College Heights all the way out to Inyokern Road, which is what are current plan shows."

Culp said he anticipated issuing permits by as early as next week.

Vice Mayor Jerry Taylor, the committee chair, pointed out the the work that would be done to lay cable was directional boring, a process that did not require traditional trenching.

Digital 395 project was largely funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money through the Department of Commerce, to the tune of $81 million, according to an ARRA report. The money was granted as part of a rural broadband improvement act. The California Public Utilities Commission has contributed a large sum as well.

The California Broadcasting Cooperative also has partnerships with Kern, Inyo and Mono counties. The project will be utilizing local groups for its work as part of the ARRA grant.

The goal is to expand broadband access along U.S Highway 395 from Barstow to Carson City, Nev by 2013. Praxis Associates, Inc. is overseeing the groundwork for the project.

The project would benefit schools and other public sectors. Lines would be made available to private companies as well as purchase.

According to Michael Ort on Sept. 6, the CEO of Praxis, the project was already proceeding north from Barstow and was two-thirds up State Route 58 to Highway 395. He estimated that the ground crews were doing five miles per day.

Ort said he hoped to get to Ridgecrest by late October or early November and before the first snows set in.

They are also breaking ground up in Bridgeport.

Culp said that the city had not yet received plans for the project's distribution sites within the city, but had received a conceptual plan of what buildings and organizations would be serviced.

Separate permits would be issued for backbone and distribution sites, Culp said.

Taylor explained that the boring process was not as intrusive as traditional trench cutting methods many utilities employ.

"This is literally a patch at an intersection and a tractor-like device comes up and inserts a snorkel-like tube that does directional boring and pops up on the other side," Taylor said. "There will be no cutting between those two bore bits."

Page 2 of 2 - Taylor said that the approach from the south, going through Bureau of Land Management land before coming over College Height Boulevard.

"It's not purely Highway 395 and you're not going to see them coming down China Lake Boulevard and into town," Taylor said. "They're trying to do the best they can because every mile costs them."

Taylor did confirm that the project would continue its exit from the Indian Wells Valley through the Navy side of the fence.